Women in Legislature

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : When I was elected in 2017, there were no women in leadership positions in this Chamber, but subsequently, we have seen a change. We have seen the first woman Government House Leader, the member for Queens. We've seen the member for Dartmouth North, who is our House Leader. We saw the member for Pictou West, who became an interim leader and is now the Speaker of the House.

I want to echo the thanks on this day when we lift up all of the women who came before. The government has pointed out all of the Progressive Conservative women who are a part of that canon, but of course, there are many more.

I think of Alexa McDonough, of course, who served in this Chamber and who serves as an example for me. I think of all of my women colleagues on all sides of the House, and I think of the need for more women. When I spoke in a school lately, I was asked the question, Is it hard for a woman to become an MLA? I said, Half of the MLAs are not yet women, so the answer must be yes. Let's lift each other all up and make sure we have representation in this Chamber.